


lunch for the soft heart

by tokyeons (stylsh)



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Office, Comedy, M/M, Romance, Secret Identity, idk what else lmao, jongin is Anxious, single dad chanyeol
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-21
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-18 20:06:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,945
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29249250
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stylsh/pseuds/tokyeons
Summary: Perhaps Jongin's new and temporary job as a secretary is too good to be true, so when he gets free lunches everyday from an anonymous "Chanyeol", Jongin is almost 100% sure he is being slowly poisoned.
Relationships: Kim Jongin | Kai/Park Chanyeol
Comments: 12
Kudos: 58
Collections: EXO Bakery - 2021





	lunch for the soft heart

**Author's Note:**

> lol okay so like - i love chankai man hgfdjs this was super fun to write! i found myself snickering almost the entire time while writing this so i hope you guys like it too 😭 big thank you to my beta and the home4u mods for helping me out !!! this fest was super fun !!!!!

Jongin has taken to the habit of looking both ways when he enters and exits the toilet.

It may be because he has always been labelled as pretty paranoid, always looking too far into things when he didn't need to.

But there was really no doubt about it at this point.

The company was pretty famous for being fair to their employees. Jongin was just here to replace the pregnant secretary who was taking a few months off, wholly paid. He needed the money; his master's degree was kicking his ass in more ways than just mentally. When Taemin had caught him portioning his ramen packets, it had been the final straw, and he’d been kicked into getting a job at the company his friend was working for.

And so, here Jongin was, about a month into the job and utterly terrified of his boss.

He hadn't met him. No, in fact, Jongin didn't even know what he looked like.

His name was "LOEY," and apparently, he was some famous photographer. Jongin worked at STAR MUSEUM magazine, an astronomy magazine in which LOEY was their acclaimed "star.” The man was just as popular as he was mysterious. Only those who worked above him knew his actual name and the face to that name, so it wasn't exactly out of the blue that Jongin had no idea who he was.

That probably wasn't anything out of the ordinary, right?

But what made things strange was that Jongin had gotten lunch every day from someone.

Jongin wasn't the best at taking care of himself. He made sure to shower every day, yes, brush his teeth, most definitely. But when it came to sleep and eating- Jongin wasn't so great in those departments. It was mostly his master's and its incredible skill in ass-kickery. Still, it had let Jongin get away with some bits of laziness. Primarily, his skill in cooking and the desire to feed himself.

It had started when Jongin and Vernon went out to eat together.

Vernon was a few years his junior, though he’d been working at the company longer than Jongin had. He was pleasant, full of smiles, and Jongin didn't mind hanging out with him. It was better than the motherly Joohyun and the loud-mouthed Baekhyun. Jongin liked the idea of hanging out with the only normal person in the office. So they went out for lunch. Jongin had asked Vernon if they could eat at the cafe nearby and, quietly, if Vernon could pay for him today. Jongin had gone a few days of work this week without eating, and he was getting sick of it. Vernon agreed in a heartbeat.

"You haven't been eating at all this week! Of course, I'll pay."

He’d planned to go back to his usual habits afterward, except the next day, there was a lunch box waiting for him on his desk. It was in plastic, so Jongin didn't have to find the owner. The note inside was weirdly threatening to Jongin.  _ Eat up Chanyeol _ . That's all? Was there poison in the lunch? Why did this person think he was  _ Chanyeol _ ?

Jongin was hungry enough that he couldn't deny the lunch. He’d also feel guilty throwing something away. However, that night, he threw everything up. Was it poisoned? He could only imagine that being the outcome despite the amount he drank that night. He usually drank well, though, didn’t he? 

"Wrong," Taemin said as he rolled his eyes when Jongin woke up the next morning. "I doubt someone is  _ actually _ poisoning you at work."

But there was absolutely  _ no _ way Jongin was going to believe  _ Taemin _ .

So Jongin had thrown away the lunch he had gotten every week and used it as compost for his mother. She frowned when he brought it to her the first time since it was a lot more than usual, but she didn't say much.

But now, the paranoia was at an all-time high.

"You shouldn't be worried about the workplace." Vernon frowned as Jongin explained. Jongin shushed him loudly. 

"What are you worried about?" Joohyun poked her little head over the cubicles, squinting at Jongin through her thick glasses. 

"Oh, nothing-" Jongin scratched at the back of his head and tried to change the subject. Before he can, Baekhyun decides to contribute.

"You have a crush?"

"No!"

"Damn. I thought it was on me."

Jongin rolled his eyes and huffed. "As if."

"No, he thinks someone is poisoning him," Vernon said as if it wasn’t a life-threatening situation.

"You mean the person who has been giving you lunches every day?" Though Joohyun often had a frown or a bewildered look on her face, she seemed amused. The first time Jongin had seen her smile for anyone that wasn't Wendy from accounting. 

"W-Well..." Jongin didn't usually feel stupid, but now that his paranoid thoughts were out loud for everyone to hear, he wilted under the scrutiny. 

"Jongin, I don't think anyone would poison you in the office. There aren't that many of us as it is, so I highly doubt anyone is out to get you." Joohyun’s eyebrows furrowed in that familiar way, an expression that he found to be quite similar to all the women in his family. Maybe they were secretly related. Or it was that "mom" expression he was too used to.

"You can never be too sure!" Jongin's voice got higher with nervousness. A knowing smile decorates Baekhyun’s face. "We are secretly a drug cartel. You know too much!" Baekhyun leaped forward and brought his arm around Jongin's neck, pulling him into a headlock. Screeching, Jongin pulled at Baekhyun’s arm. Joohyun rolled her eyes and popped some earphones in her ears before getting back to her work.

Despite their reassurance (and Baekhyun's teasing), Jongin didn't let up.

There wasn't much he could do to stop the paranoia, so he had decided he was going to find the culprit once and for all. He didn’t have much, besides it being from a mystery man named "Chanyeol." He had already gone around to every office in the entire building looking for said man. The name was incredibly uncommon, but he couldn't find anything. They  _ had _ to be from this office; there was no way to get Jongin's lunch to his desk if they were from another building.

So, he decided to take advice from his inner child when he tried to catch Santa in the act. He left his desk right before lunch to go "to the bathroom" and watched from behind the corner. He had never caught Santa, but this wasn’t some weird holiday rom-com that his mom liked to watch. Chanyeol was not simply some tall reincarnation of Saint Nick.

Jongin frowned. Maybe he was in some sort of rom-com. It would certainly add something to his life if the man was handsome and tall. Perhaps he was rich and sweet. It did seem like the lunch was homemade, so Chanyeol must've been a good cook.

Jongin shook his head, getting out of his own daydreams. Even if the man was handsome, he couldn't let himself lose sight of the plan. This man was  _ poisoning _ Jongin.

So Jongin waited. He got a few awkward looks from Wendy and Joohyun as they walked by to head to the break room, but Jongin didn't dare let his eyes wander from his desk. Even when Baekhyun smiled his stupid smile and slapped Jongin's shoulder, he did not take his gaze off of the desk. If this was a magical romance plot, maybe Chanyeol could use magic. Or he was-

Jongin's rampant romantic thoughts were cut off when someone entered the office. It had been entirely empty until now, so Jongin watched the man walk towards his desk with the same lunch Jongin had always gotten. Today there was some Kimbap with something else inside it, placed on Jongin's desk. His cheeks were red, but he tried to ignore the fact that he stirred himself up just by thinking of those weird movies he had gotten too attached to.

The man, or rather,  _ Chanyeol _ , wore a sleek, yet relatively simple, black suit and tie, similar to what Jongin would see around the office. He must’ve worked here, but Jongin had never seen this man before. His hair was black and gelled to the side and ignoring the scary look on his face, he was quite handsome. His eyebrows were knitted together, an expression he’d had since Jongin saw him. Yes, his jaw was chiselled, and his face seemed to be sculpted from the gods, but he looked absolutely  _ terrifying _ . Maybe he was a vampire. Jongin hadn’t prepared himself for a  _ Twilight _ plot-

"You know, you're terrible at hiding yourself." A shiver ran up Jongin's spine and his eyes locked with Chanyeol. Oh, man, he was really gonna die today. It was supposed to be a slow-death with the poison, but now that Chanyeol caught him, it was probably going to be bloody and painful and  _ God, if you're listening, please make sure my LEGO collection doesn't go to Taemin _ -

"I can hear your thoughts from here." Chanyeol walked a little closer, and Jongin knew it was over for him. 

"B-Because you can read my mind-?" He felt like a rabbit being stalked by a wolf, all it would take was one lunge in Jongin's direction, and he would be out like a light. 

"No." Chanyeol looked at him with a deep frown, stopping in his tracks. "Are you thick? It's because you're whispering all of them out loud.”

"Oh." Jongin's face had turned a bright red as he tried his best not to hide into the wall he had been leaning against this entire time. "A-Are you Chanyeol?" Jongin asked, trying his best not to seem too embarrassed by Chanyeol's directness.

"No." The man said, no longer Chanyeol. Jongin frowned, looking at him as if he had just said some magical term. "Chanyeol's my boss. I just brought lunch here because he's busy."

"Y-Your boss?"

"Yeah. Your boss too, I guess. Did they not tell you his name?"

Jongin felt like the whole world was collapsing around him.  _ His boss? LOEY? _

And suddenly, it all made sense.

"I'm so STUPID!"

The man rolled his eyes and leaned against Baekhyun's cubicle. 

"You got that right." He sighed, turning on his heel and heading out of the office. Jongin followed after him, trying to get more answers out of this man. 

"W-What's your name, then?"

"Sehun. I'm Chanyeol's assistant." Sehun answered and rolled his eyes, as if sensing what Jongin's next question was. 

"Are you sure you can't read my mind?"

"You watch too much  _ Twilight _ ." Well, Sehun wasn't wrong about that. "And can you stop throwing the lunches away? My boss doesn't know, but I'm sure if he did, he would whine like a puppy. And I'll be the one to hear the whining." Sehun turned and looked Jongin in the eyes with a hard stare. Jongin nodded dumbly.

"Just eat your lunch."

Jongin sat in his chair and opened today's lunch. He still wasn't entirely sure if it was poisoned or not, but with Sehun's heavy gaze lingering over his shoulders, he knew Sehun would kill him before the food did if he didn’t at least try to eat. 

"I'll be by tomorrow." Sehun sighed and walked out of the office, hands in his pockets.

And while Jongin basically had a food orgasm over lunch, he still felt a little weird. He kept an in-depth diary about any strange feeling he would have that day. He didn't get sick, but it wasn't enough for him to stop feeling suspicious. Even after Taemin told him he was an idiot and Jennie told him the same (a little nicer, but not by much). Jongin still went to work that day and lounged around waiting for Sehun to show up. When Jongin's stomach was starting to grumble, that was when Sehun came by, as if he knew that Jongin had gotten hungry, but there wasn't any food in his hands. At the sight of Sehun, Jongin’s back straightened, and he fumbled around trying to act like he was working or something.

"Chanyeol wants to see you." Sehun’s gaze was pointed as he looked in Jongin's direction. 

“Really? Why?” Questions spill out before Jongin can catch them.

"Just come." Sehun turned on his heel, and Jongin had to do what he could to follow the man. He only vaguely knew where Chanyeol's office was. Even though he was Chanyeol's secretary, the office made sure to keep Chanyeol's identity and workspace out of the way from the rest of the employees. Keeping close behind Sehun, Jongin looked around the office to memorize this route.

Though the food didn't have any substantial adverse effects, he was still wary. Maybe Sehun didn't kill him yesterday, but considering how far off this office is and how secluded it is, Jongin wouldn't put it past them to kill him in the office. Maybe the previous secretary was there too.

He grasped onto Sehun's arms, much to the other's surprise, and Jongin pleaded. "PLEASE DON'T KILL ME!"

"Are you on drugs?" Sehun frowned and Jongin turned more frantic. “I-I’m not! I’ll pee in a cup, I swear!” 

Sehun rolled his eyes and pushed the sobbing man off of him. "We're not going to  _ kill _ you." He reached out and opened the door to Chanyeol's office, and Jongin finally saw the man who had been his boss for the past month for the first time.

Chanyeol was nothing like Sehun and nothing like what Jongin had expected. His ears stuck out from the side of his head and his smile seemed to push them out even more so. Wherever Sehun was chiselled to perfection, Chanyeol was soft. His cheeks made no effort in hiding his wide smile, dimples giving Jongin a warm greeting all their own. His hair was dyed silver, styled like Sehun's but a little more laidback. When he stood, he towered over Jongin, even though they were probably only an inch or so apart. Jongin felt a little overwhelmed. Any imagery of Chanyeol being a vampire stuck in his 400s, or even a 50-year-old man had disappeared with Chanyeol's smile.

"Jongin!" He called as if the two of them knew each other for years. 

"Uh, uh... Mr. LOEY..." Jongin stuttered, bowing his head. Chanyeol shook his head and hand for Jongin's attention. 

"Call me Chanyeol. I want us to be close?"

"Uh.. Uh... Chanyeol. Hi." Jongin blushed but for an entirely different reason than what he did before. Chanyeol was handsome and a dream come true, but Jongin tried his best to keep his eyes off the brightly shining man. "What did you want me for?"

Once Jongin asked, his boss' lips jutted out into a pout, his entire face drooping like a puppy. Jongin felt even more inclined to blush. 

"Sehun told me you were throwing my food out." Jongin's hand went to his nape, and he had realized then, hoping for Sehun's help on the subject, that the assistant disappeared somewhere in the office. Jongin would've sworn if Chanyeol still wasn't looking at Jongin like his dog did when Jongin scolded him for ripping up the couch. 

"I-I just... I thought you were poisoning me..." He couldn't find it in himself to lie, so he didn't, but he did his best not to stumble over his words too much.

"Poison you?"

"Y-Yes! I.. I got sick after eating and drinking, so I assume the mixture of whatever you gave me and alcohol made me sick and- poison!"

Chanyeol stared at him for a few moments, head tilted to the side. Jongin was about to say something more in his defence before Chanyeol burst out laughing. It was wild and delighted laughter, his large hand smacking Jongin's shoulder, to which he responded with a yelp.

"Why would I- Why would I poison you? You're my secretary. I just thought it would be nice to give you lunch every day." Jongin had half a mind to pout at the other man for laughing at him, so he sort of does. Chanyeol's laugh sizzles out, and he just continues to grin at Jongin. 

"I just... Why? Why go through the trouble? None of this tastes as you bought it." Chanyeol hummed, moving away from Jongin as if signalling to the man to walk farther into his office with him. 

"I just haven't gotten used to making just two servings of lunch everyday, unlike the three I used to, I guess. My son only gets the week with his dad, so you know, I might as well make the most of it. You get the leftovers. Sorry if it's weird."

"No- No! That's okay. That's, uh... Really sweet, actually. Sorry for thinking the worst of you." Jongin and Chanyeol sit in the office’s only two chairs, Chanyeol behind the desk and Jongin across from him. Chanyeol's smile never faded. 

"That's okay."

"Is there any way I can make it up to you? I've been throwing out your meals for like two weeks now." Jongin chewed his lip and looked around the room. "Ah! I can make something for you if you like. Like, a- a dinner?"

"If you can't even make yourself lunch, how can I trust you to make dinner?" Chanyeol's smile turned mischievous, and Jongin was a little offended.

"I don't like to wake up and make lunch! But dinner, well, it's a necessity!" Chanyeol laughed once more, and Jongin laughed with him. 

"Sure. Can my son come along? He's not a picky eater."

"He's more than welcome."

**Author's Note:**

> gfhjd i know chanyeol was barely in this fic but he is here in spirit !!


End file.
